Bill on Seth Watts by Payson Sibley Wild
Bill, a deacon, returns from serving as pallbearer at Seth Watts's funeral and tells a companion about Seth on the way to the threshing engine. He recalls Seth's moody mornings, when Seth wanted to be left alone, and how Almiry (Mis' Watts) would instead press him to do chores, provoking quarrels that always broke with a laugh. Bill reflects that such moodiness, worked through, was healthier than suppressing it. He criticizes mourners' habit of praising the dead falsely, noting Almiry's claim that Seth never spoke a harsh word to her, which he and Almiry both knew, by a shared glance over Seth's body, to be untrue. He insists people with mixed good and bad traits, like Seth, shouldn't be called perfect, and that no one in the Skillet district deserves such false, pious praise.
By Payson Sibley Wild · First published 1436 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Regional Fiction/Regionalism, Character Study · 1,026 words
First lines
Seth Watts hed died, an' Bill was tellin' us / Suthin' about 'im. Bill he'd be'n a bearer 't / The funerel, an' now hed jes' got home, / Hung up 'is Sunday clo'es an' derby hat, / And on the way out tew the thrashin' enjin' / Paid tribute to Seth's mem'ry. "Me an' him / Hed deakin'd it up thar t' our church"-he jerked / His head toward town-"for twenty years tergether. / A right smart moodish feller Seth was, no / Mistakin' thet; I've offen saw 't myself / An' heerd 'is naybers tell. Some mornin's he / Would git up with a feelin' he must jes' / Be let alone an' not be ast ter dew / One solitary thing by ennyone, / No matter who. He tried Almiry (that's / Mis' Watts) more'n she'd let on. I reckon tho' / She didn't git ter onderstand him 's much / She might; 'f she'd left 'im be ontil he come / Around hisself, they'd both 'a' be'n all right; / A hour or two o' sleep would fixt 'im up.
Similar titles
- To Be Filed For Reference by Rudyard Kipling
- Love by Elizabeth Von Arnim
- The Proper Thing by Edgar Saltus
- The Dear Departed by Edgar Saltus
- Only Temper by George Eliot
- Abracadabra by John Galsworthy
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Written in verse form with poetic line breaks, displaying characteristics of narrative poetry that tells a story through poetic structure and language.
- Regional Fiction/Regionalism — Employs heavy rural American dialect, specific regional setting (Skillet district), and focuses on community customs and rural life authenticity.
- Character Study — Entire narrative centers on understanding Seth Watts' complex personality, mood swings, relationships, and Bill's philosophical observations about human nature.
- Elegy — Fundamentally a tribute to a deceased person reflecting on their life, character, and legacy in the aftermath of death.
Tags
funeral · mourning · death · marriage · marital conflict · rural America · small community · church life · deacon · hypocrisy · false piety · character assessment
What this Textopian page supports
Bill on Seth Watts is listed on Textopian as a poem by Payson Sibley Wild, dated 1436 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Payson Sibley Wild
- Date: 1436 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Regional Fiction/Regionalism, Character Study, Elegy, Domestic Drama
- Length: 1,026 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Bill on Seth Watts by Payson Sibley Wild
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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